Thirty-Six Forms Cloak Hammer

Hearing Lu Tiejang's self-satisfied tone, Xu Yunfan paid it no mind.

Seeing Xu Yunfan absorbed in thought, Lu Tiejang rubbed his nose and said, "This Crimson Training Cloak Hammer is one of Divine Weapon Ridge's secret arts. When you first learned it, didn't it feel like forging iron?"

His callused palm rasped against the hammer's handle.

"Watch closely!"

Before Xu Yunfan could respond, Lu Tiejang strode to the furnace and let out a thunderous shout.

In an instant, as Lu Tiejang swung the hammer, his deltoids swelled like iron balls, and bronze-colored veins writhed beneath the skin of his knotted arms like Jiaolong.

Unfortunately, the force trajectory that should have run through his waist and back broke in two at his slightly hunched spine.

The Inverted Heavenly River, which should have drawn force from the heels, had been forcibly altered by the old man into a technique of reverse force from the shoulder blades.

The red-hot iron billet on the anvil suddenly twisted like a snake.

The hammer's descent kicked up a gust that swept the dust from the ground.

Clang! Clang!

A sharp metallic ring erupted, and sparks flew in all directions.

Xu Yunfan's fingers unconsciously tapped against the python-sinew-wrapped handle of the heavy hammer.

He could clearly see cold sweat seeping from Lu Tiejang's lower back, soaking dark patches into his coarse cloth robe.

Forcing out a move beyond his body's limits like this could easily injure his internal organs.

Lu Tiejang forced his back straight. Panting, he wiped the sweat from his brow. An unusual light flickered in his sunken eyes as he lifted his chin with faint pride.

"Well? This hammer strike is the result of thirty years of training. Back then at Divine Weapon Ridge, even among my peers, this move of mine..."

"Your technique is seasoned, nearly flawless."

Xu Yunfan suddenly interrupted, his gaze sweeping over the other man's faintly trembling calves.

"However, this move should borrow force from the ground for its recoil, yet you use your shoulder blades in place of your heels. That is rather inventive."

As he spoke, he extended two fingers and lightly yet heavily traced them across the still-warm anvil. The marks left by his fingers matched the hammer marks in depth exactly.

The blacksmith's cloudy pupils abruptly contracted. His scarred hand clamped tightly around the bellows handle, and he kicked the apprentice working the bellows aside. The youth rolled several times across the ground.

He then asked, "Which elder of Divine Weapon Ridge are you a disciple of?"

Xu Yunfan fell silent for a moment.

Seeing that Xu Yunfan did not answer, Lu Tiejang did not press him. He merely nodded. "No need to make things difficult. Since we have this connection, if you need anything in the future that I can help with, just say the word."

After a long while, Xu Yunfan asked, "Can you lower the price from sixteen hundred taels?"

Lu Tiejang said, "Business is business. Don't bring that up again."

"..."

An awkward silence fell over the scene, and Xu Yunfan found it difficult to admit anything.

Before Xu Yunfan could speak again, Lu Tiejang abruptly pushed the bellows. Blue-violet flames surged from the furnace, throwing the wrinkles on his face into sharp relief like ravines.

"You've got sharp eyes, kid. Do you know about the Qingzhou earthquake thirty years ago..."

Before he could finish, Xu Yunfan had already lifted the Weng Gold Hammer and turned away, his long arms quietly exerting force.

As the hammerhead tore through the air, its nine linked rings boomed like muffled thunder, crushing the old man's unfinished words beneath the heavy whoosh.

The ice shards hanging from the eaves shattered with soft crackles. Amid the swirling ice crystals, Xu Yunfan's voice drifted back.

"Old Lu, I'll come by again when I have time! And make me an iron case for this weapon while you're at it!"

"...I'll have someone deliver it to you in three days."

"Many thanks!"

Watching Xu Yunfan leave with the heavy hammer over his shoulder, Lu Tiejang smacked his lips, clutched his waist, and dropped heavily onto the ground. His face had gone pale, and cold sweat poured from him.

The apprentice beside him was horrified and hurried over.

"Master, what's wrong?!"

"Get lost."

Lu Tiejang cursed, "As if I'm about to die. Go get Doctor Cui, now. I twisted my waist!"

"..."

Although Lu Tiejang now seemed forthright and decent toward others, what he was truly like still required further consideration.

For now, he was worth befriending.

On the way back, goose-feather snow drifted down in flurries. Not a single pedestrian could be seen on the streets, yet Xu Yunfan felt his blood and qi boiling throughout his body.

As the heavy hammer swayed in his hand, the tremors it sent forth gradually fell into rhythm with his heartbeat, and the blood qi of the Crimson Flame Copper Body Art began circulating on its own.

A golden-bronze sheen emerged across his skin, every tendon pulsing beneath the surface as though molten lava surged through his veins.

After returning to Clear River Residence, Xu Yunfan immediately lifted the Weng Gold Hammer and began practicing the Crimson Training Cloak Hammer in the courtyard.

The sound of the heavy hammer tearing through the air shattered the courtyard's silence.

The instant the Thirty-Six Forms Cloak Hammer unfolded, the snow swept backward like a white dragon soaring into the sky.

The vortex stirred by the two-hundred-pound Weng Gold Hammer scraped deep cracks into the bark of an old tree thirty feet away.

In an instant, the muscles all over his body bulged. As his blood qi surged, veins rose across his skin, and the Drumming Weng Gold Hammer in his hands tore through the air with a thunderous boom that exploded through the courtyard.

The Crimson Training Cloak Hammer consisted of thirty-six forms, each stronger than the last. As the heavy hammer whirled wildly, even the air in the courtyard hummed and trembled, while the snow blanketing the ground was swept up and overturned.

A martial artist who had achieved great mastery in the second refinement stage possessed nearly twice their former strength. The two-hundred-pound Weng Gold Hammer seemed like a wooden stick in Xu Yunfan's hands, churning the air until it resembled thick liquid with terrifying force.

With every swing, the nine linked rings on the heavy hammer roared like surging waves crashing against the shore, while the forceful wind tossed up the hair hanging at his temples.

'You are freely unleashing the Crimson Training Cloak Hammer and have never felt so exhilarated. Proficiency in the Crimson Flame Copper Body Art and Cloak Hammer has increased.'

'You find the Drumming Weng Gold Hammer in your hands exceptionally suitable. Many moves you had previously overlooked have been adjusted one by one. Proficiency in the Crimson Flame Copper Body Art and Cloak Hammer has increased significantly.'

'...'

The moment the system notifications appeared, Xu Yunfan spun and brought down his hammer. The heavy hammer fell like a cannonball onto a granite boulder nearby, and spiderweb cracks instantly spread across its hard surface.

After practicing more than a dozen times, when his limbs felt slightly sore and weak, Xu Yunfan glanced at the system notifications that had appeared on the Attribute Panel.

Joy filled his heart. With a suitable heavy weapon in hand, his cultivation efficiency had indeed risen considerably. Under the Attribute Panel, the Crimson Flame Copper Body Art and Cloak Hammer did not merely deepen his hammer technique; they also made his physique increasingly tougher.

After dinner, when the moon stood high in the sky, Xu Yunfan unfolded "Surging Wave Palm" by candlelight.

Between the yellowed pages, dark-red annotations had appeared at some point beside Fei Yao's elegant small-script handwriting—"Tidal Force travels through the Hand Shaoyang meridian; it must accord with the waxing and waning of the moon."

His heart stirred. He rose and abruptly pushed open the window, only to see moonlight spilling over the courtyard snow like flowing silver mercury, seemingly in harmony with the blood qi flow described in the palm technique.

"Interesting."

This Surging Wave Palm excelled at tempering the major tendons of both arms. Once practiced to profound mastery, one could generate several bursts of force from thin air with every flex of the tendons in battle.

Following the diagrams, he slowly worked through the forms with both palms. The blood qi in his arms gradually flowed and grew more active.

When he executed the seventh form, Parting Waves Intercepting Current, a sharp pain suddenly shot through his palms, as though countless fine needles were piercing along his tendons straight into his marrow.

Rather than being alarmed, Xu Yunfan was delighted. This was clearly the sign of "force penetrating the fascia" described in Surging Wave Palm.